The Tree from the Forest
by SunMoonNeko
Summary: An interesting rumor draws Kagome to a strange village. Alone the Miko makes her way through the village that she quickly realizes has its secrets, and they aren't trying too hard to hide them. What is going on here? Who is this Inugami they worship? Why isn't the village covered in black magic? Who will be sacrificed next?
1. Chapter 1

The Tree from the Forest

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Inuyasha series

Chapter One: A Strange Rumor for a Strange Miko

Kagome had always considered herself to be a fairly normal girl, despite having fallen into the past visa her family's well. She got mad when demon's and human's alike insulted her, screamed when she noticed the insects in the grass around her and wasn't afraid to let her feelings be known. It didn't matter if she was in her birth time or the past, she stayed true to self. She stood out somewhat in the past, but for a modern woman she didn't feel particularly special. She helped people when she could, even if she had to go a bit out of her way because that was simply who she was, her nature. Going the extra mile to protect people, to make their lives easier if possible, was so second nature she barely noticed she did it. To be honest she only really noticed when her friends brought it to her attention, either through Inuyasha's constant complaining, or Miroku and Sango's bemused expressions when she insisted she could walk a few more hours to make it to the village that night.

When they heard a story of a village in need of assistance, she turned her feet in that direction, even if it meant it would take twice as long to get back to Kaede's village. They had just completed a similar task in the southern region; bandits were attacking villages for their food supplies for the coming winter months. The bandits were a mix of low level demons and rouge humans and their raids were leaving the village with little in supplies to take care of their sick let alone food to eat, which was why the whole band had gone. It was an easy task with the four of them, a well oiled machine that tracked, then captured the wrong doers and assisted the villagers in getting their supplies back. They were traveling back along a merchant's path when the man who Kagome was purchasing some herbs from told them of the strange story after hearing their tale. The merchant that had told them a story of a large bug youkai that was repeatedly attacking the village he had stopped in a month ago. He told them of the strangeness of the villages in that area, how none seemed too concerned with being attacked and had advised them against causing trouble in that territory, but beyond that, had given them all the information he could on how to get there and what the cause was.

"Wench, I'm telling ya there is something fishy about this story. For such a large trading village, why have we only heard one rumor come out of it? Are you seriously gonna drag us off in the wrong direction of home for a single rumor!" Inuyasha complained, more stating then asking the last bit. He'd been rather crabby lately for he and Kagome had been fighting more and more lately and the last time she declared she wouldn't bring him back any more ramen until he apologized properly. It wasn't his fault she was too naive to notice how males looked at her. Like hell he'd let one of them bastards taint her. No, it was better for her to be a mad at him then to let her heart be broken by some lowly male who wanted to use her and leave her, but damn did he miss his ramen!

"Inuyasha has a point Kagome-sama," Miroku said, a thoughtful look on his face. "Usually we would have past at least a few people who would have tales of the village's problem. Having a demon carelessly trample upon their harvest is no small matter, and yet all we have heard is this single story. We have been travelling the merchant's path for a while now, and the merchant said he visited a while ago. Stranger yet that no formal request was put out, at least that we know of. We should have been informed of such a thing, especially if the local army couldn't handle it." It wasn't that he didn't want to help; on the contraire such a prosperous village usually rewarded their help quite handsomely. However he couldn't help but notice that his lovely Sango hadn't been hitting him as hard as she usually did when his cursed hand enjoyed the sweet curve of her backside. It made him worry and he selfishly desired to return to the village with his wife as soon as possible to have her checked out by the village miko.

Kagome glanced at Sango, whose facial expression showed that she agreed with her husband's words. She knew the slayer had been feeling unwell lately, and even suspected why though she didn't think Sango had figured it out yet. The slayer was indeed looking forward to returning to the village and speaking to the old miko there. Although she could have requested Kagome to exam her for illness, she didn't feel that her health was so bad as to use up what few herbs Kagome had left. She suspected she was merely tired and required rest within the village and wanted to confirm it with Kaede.

"You guys, I think that's exactly why it should be checked out. The merchant said that when he was in the village he witnessed that bug demon attack the village's harvest, poisoning it. It caused some people to be sick but no one seemed too concerned, which is strange in itself. Then the village doesn't ask for any miko or monks to help them? The army is only useful for small demons, but this was a large one! We haven't heard any requests in this territory in a long time either, but now this rumor comes up. I want to know what's going on!" Kagome said passionately, she wasn't going to give up. "I want to check it out, so I can go alone." She saw the immediately denial on their faces and held up a hand. "I'm a grown woman you guys. Sango, you haven't been feeling well lately and there is no way I'd ask your husband who should be at your side to come with me. As for you Inuyasha," here her voice dropped a few degrees in warmth. She just couldn't get over his attitude lately. She was already in her twenties and still didn't know what it was like to have a boyfriend thanks to him. She loved Inuyasha, he was her best friend but lately she wanted nothing more than to strangle him with his long snow white hair. There was only so much a girl, a woman, could accept in a man's protective behavior and he'd been crossing her line lately. Interrupting her conversations when she spoke with prospective men, barging in when she would have dinner with them, purposely being rude to them or telling them embarrassing things about her, true or not, to drive them away and when that didn't work he went to his default of threatening them if they even looked at her in an impure way. None were good enough for her in his eyes, and all she wanted was a chance at love. It felt like he didn't want her to be happy, even though she knew that wasn't true, she just needed some space from him and his new attitude of late. "I think we both know we need a bit of space right now. You've been driving me crazy and you need to trust me. I can protect myself, haven't I proven that enough already? This trip will give us a couple of days to calm down before talking again."

When she heard his growl and saw that he intended to still deny her, she bowed her head, "Please Inuyasha…I..I love you but I can't keep living like this. Please," she trailed off, her voice soft. Inuyasha felt his heart squeeze painfully, and knew that he would give her what she wanted. He had messed up too much when Kagome was a teenage, going between her and Kikyo. He managed to harm the girl he had come to love, in ways he hadn't truly understood until it was too late. He was grateful that they manage to end things as friends, best friends but it changed everything. The sweet and innocent girl who fell down a well, who stumbled though the past and barely managed to get by finally grew up. She had experienced her first war, first love, her first heart break and her first acceptance that life wasn't fair, or what you expected it to be. While Kagome had always insisted on her studies from the future, she started to demand those of the past as well. She practiced her aim and strengthened her body with the hand to hand combat she learned with the slayer, strengthened her mind with the monk. As time pasted and she grew, so did her powers and soon she was serious about the tutelage that Kaede gave her as well. In the end, he knew she was capable of traveling the past alone as any miko was but he didn't have to let her, or like it when she insisted on doing so. It wasn't often that she did which he was thankful for, but she was so damn stubborn when she did request it. He knew she needed this independence, that lately she was feeling smothered by them, by him, feeling like her past self when she relied upon everyone else to carry her through the battle instead of being the one to protect them.

With a sigh and a scowl he gave in, "A week wench. If you're not back in a week, I'm coming after you and if I find you injured you'll regret it!" He turned then, stomping his way down the path before he could change his mind and followed her at a distant. She'd catch him if he did and things would only get worse between them. Sango and Miroku were a little shocked how quickly their friend had given in, but understood at the same time. Inuyasha wanted nothing more than to protect Kagome from the world and all that was in it, while she wanted nothing more than to explore every inch of it all. Even if that meant being hurt; something the hanyou couldn't fully understand. "Kagome-chan, take Kirara with you okay? That way you can come back quicker and stay longer at the village if need be." The slayer reasoned, though she also just wanted to make sure her friend was safe. If something went wrong Kirara would return to the village and alert them. She knew if she said that though her friend would feel smothered and she just got done saying she wanted them to trust in her abilities but Sango couldn't help but feel protective. She knew Kagome understood how she felt when she reached out and hugged her, accepting the fire neko on her own shoulder.

"Don't worry you guys; it's just one demon, even if it's a bug!" The pretty miko shuddered at the thought, making her companions' chuckle softly. "Stay out of trouble Kagome-sama," the monk said embracing her, keeping his hands on her shoulders. The only bottom that he wanted to touch was that of his wife. "You too pervy monk," She said with a wink. With one last good bye they were separated, the couple headingNorth East to their home village and the pretty miko heading North West to the mystery that waited her.

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_ I wrote a few chapters of this, though I don't plan for it to be very long. Maybe 6 or 7 chapters long, and each no longer than about 3 pages in Microsoft word. It's not very in depth, it's just a fun little idea that poped into my head and I wanted to write so I did. Productive day off lol Anyways, I just thought it would make for an interesting perspective on things. We will see how well it turns out, and I'm not even sure how I plan to end it yet either, but yeah lol thoughts would be great! Tell me you love it, tell me you hate it, say you want to destroy it or steal it or whatever.

Love SunMoonNeko


	2. Chapter 2

The Tree from the Forest

Disclaimer: blah blah don't own blah

Chapter two: Darkness or Moonlight?

It didn't take the miko long to reach the village thanks to the fire neko. From the air she could see that the village was indeed a prosperous one. Many buildings were of decent size and even the poor section looked comfortable. The village leader's house was easy to spot with its many layers of protection and attention to fine detail in the design. However she could also easily point out the large market area where there was many traders offering their wares. There were many paths around the village that lead to this area, clearly identifying it as a trading village. There were many fields surrounding the village where she could see the dots of the people who worked them.

As they flew over the fields Kagome could see a few of the fields that had been damaged in the past, could see where the soil had clearly been turned and the old harvest removed. That wasn't surprising, but what was strange was that it was clear that the area had been replanted. She wondered what the village had managed to purchase for the winter growth in time, a plant that would only get partial sunlight so late in the season too since most of the fields that were damaged were along the forest and the area was rather hill to begin with. In fact there were only a few areas carefully outlined that she could make out that had been stripped down completely and left to be, probably the places that had been poisoned somehow and not just trampled upon. Finding all of it to be just plain strange, she directed the neko to take them down near the market on the path that lead to head's home. In a place like this, going to the leader for information made the most sense but she still desired to walk amoung the village people and see with her own eyes how things were, not just what they leader would sell it as.

As they landed, she expected the usual strange looks for riding a youkai but instead she was startled to be greeted as if they saw mikos riding neko demon's all the time. It felt a bit creepy to her but her instincts told her there was no malice in any of them as they offered their greetings and respects for her position.

"Welcome Miko-sama!"

"Miko-sama, please take this offering!"

"Miko-sama, please bless my child!"

"Miko-sama!"

Many of the people called out to her which told her immediately that they didn't have a village miko. A surprising fact since most of the larger villages had shrines and multiple miko, but Kagome realized that while she had been busy looking at the fields she hadn't seen a single shrine among the buildings. 'Perhaps there was one the bamboo forest that lined the village and field,' she thought as she began to perform the general duties most miko did in public, offering blessings and words of wisdom, graciously accepting the small gifts and sometimes repurposing them to those who needed it more when they came to her. Many of the requests were for good health or for simple wisdom. One woman even asked her to bless her womb so she could bare healthy children.

Still lost in thought as she did this on auto pilot she glanced around looking for clues. 'I couldn't see a shrine from the air, but that didn't explain why there was no miko in the village,' nor she realized looking around, a single monk. There was no spiritualist other than herself, not even among the travelers who passed through the village that she could sense. 'What's going on, why are holy people avoiding this village? They were attacked not that long ago, there should be some evidence of someone helping them but there isn't anything in the air. No one has blessed this area in a long time. There aren't any demon slayers left that I'm aware of, maybe ninjas helped them? That doesn't make sense, I would have seen more damage from the battle, and would have at least heard of the request beforehand. So who helped these people and why did the village have so much confidence in them that they didn't bother asking for any other help?'

"Excuse me," she said as the crowd broke up, her tasks more or less completed for the moment. "I was wondering if I could speak with the village leader?" One of the soldiers, if you could call the awkward young man that, offered to escort her to the head's manor and put in the request for her. Kagome mentally rolled her eyes as she began to follow him in the correct direction, the boy kept glancing at her as if she'd suddenly put an arrow in his back, but his blush when she caught his eye let her know his reasons. Now that Inuyasha wasn't there to breathed down her back, she didn't feel any particular need to rush into flirting with any guy who showed interest, she was free to take her time and be more selective with who she gave her attentions too, even if it wasn't serious.

As they walked to the manor she observed that many of the homes had charms on the outside of their doors. _O-fuda_ and_ Omamori_, but many of which she had never seen before. The ones she somewhat recognized were typical, for healthy households and marriages, business success, luck and fortune, avoidance of evil, even a few travel safety ones and ones for safe pregnancy. However there were ones that she didn't recognize at all, they were not spiritual charms, or at least not traditionally. Walking closer to one of the last houses before the manor, she stopped and observed the charms. Looking closely, she realized why they looked so strange. While typical _O-fuda_ and _Omamori_ had a deity's name and the shrines mark inscribed on them to identify with, these were not marked with any shrine or deity she knew to be amount the Buddhist or Shinto beliefs. Instead what she saw could only be charms dedicated to an _Inugami_. There were paw prints and various stages of the moon phrases designing the charms, along with plum blossom patterns, and tortoise shells...it all looked vaguely familiar and left a bad feeling in her gut. Inugami had a bad reputation and the sadistic ritual that were traditionally used to call upon them made Kagome's stomach churn with vomit.

'How many main roads was there….six…six rituals, six inugami-families? The fields were also broken up into six different kinds of harvests but plum blossoms only have five petals…I know this symbol but how...' Kagome thought darkly to herself. She might have landed herself in a lot of trouble. If there was an Inugami protecting the village, let alone six different ones, it would explain a lot of the strangeness she had come cross so far. Inugami were summoned into creation by burying a dog up to its neck before placing offerings of food and water just out of its reach. When the dog had become crazed on the brink of starving to death, it was beheaded. The head was then buried beneath a noisy street, to which the village had many to pick from. After a time, the head and body must be placed in a well cared for shrine. The Inugami spirit could then be summoned for nefarious reasons, enraged at its death and seeking revenge. She knew that this could sometimes backfire if the summoners' will wasn't strong enough against the spirit; in fact it could lead to many deaths as the spirit looses itself in its hatred.

"Is there something wrong Miko-sama?" The guard who had been escorting her had stopped with her as she looked over the dark charms. While before she had seen an awkward and blushing young man, she now saw the soldier's side. His once dropped shoulders stood proud, his body loose and unbent, ready to react if she made a wrong move. His eyes were steady on her, not giving anything away, just patiently waiting for her response. "No," Kagome said, offering her best smile. "Let's keeping going, I'm quite eager to meet with your leader." She then brushed by the soldier confidently moving towards the gates that now held a different feeling to them. 'Probably because now I know that the village leader is a black magic user! No wonder I didn't see any shrines, they keep it well hidden from the travelers and traders that come this way. How is a village that is using black magic not full of crime and disease? Other than the merchant who told me the tale, we've heard nothing of this place beyond what it provides for harvest and trading! What is really going on here?'

Kagome mentally scolded herself for once again getting into trouble and she was once again escorted to a waiting area by a manor's guard/servant. Still, something didn't feel right, even with the new knowledge, things weren't adding up perfectly. While the Inugami explained why the village, and the ones in the area, weren't worried about the bug demon that attacked, it didn't explain how there was no negative energies in the air. It didn't explain why this village wasn't overflowing with holy people attempting to purify it. As a white magic user, a holy person, she should easily be able to sense the dark magic that should be soaked into everything in the area; from the soil the village sat on to the air that they breathed, it should be marked by darkness and yet it wasn't. All of the people that greeted her had felt normal, none more evil than the average human and even asked for her blessings! Wouldn't they have avoided her at all costs if the village was invoking Inugami visa the ritual? Did that mean they had figured out another way to invoke them, to control the kami, or was it something else entirely? She was full of questions, and she wanted answers damn it!


End file.
